There was a time when working from home was a seldom occurrence, but ever since the coronavirus pandemic turned the world upside down, things have changed rather significantly. Now, a vast majority of the workforce reports for duty remotely, making WFH a norm. However, despite being a widely practiced working style in the corporate sector, WFH remains challenging for employees across the board. Whether it’s an entry-level trainee or someone on the managerial level, everyone struggles the same when it comes to working remotely.
Perhaps the biggest challenge of WFH is the absence of an office environment and the decorum that it brings. Naturally, when you have other people engaged in different activities around you and kids running from one end of the house to another, you are bound to be flustered. As a result, your chances of messing up go up considerably, which adds to your stress. Simply put, working from home is an uphill battle for most people.
That said, achieving success as a remote worker is not completely out of the question. If you stick to the following golden rules to achieve success when working from home, you can certainly ace it.
1. Design an Office Space
Not having a dedicated corner for your home office with suitable workplace furniture like ClassicRiser Standing Desk Converter is a recipe for disaster. It's a mistake that will significantly reduce your productivity, which in turn will dampen your morale. How you ask? Here is how
Let's say you are not as productive when working from home as you are when at your official workplace. As a result, you take longer to complete assigned tasks, and the longer you take, the more worn out you become, and that will hit your spirit massively.
Long story short, you must have a (or at least half a) room to keep your office desk, chair, and all the necessary home office accessories, such as desk risers. Here are some pointers to help you design a home office that maximizes productivity.
Invest In Ergonomic Furniture
Corporate employees have worked in uncomfortable chairs and compromised their posture using office furniture that wasn't suitable for their body proportions. In simple words, previously, workers had to settle on furnishings that weren't necessarily ideal for their back and neck. Consequently, musculoskeletal disorders and other postural deformities became common. While those health concerns still exist in a large population of the working class, the frequency has dwindled, thanks to ergonomic furniture.
Ergonomic furniture is designed to cater to the user’s needs and not the other way around. This means when someone invests in said office equipment, they don’t have to contort their body and adjust to their office space. Instead, the desk and chair are chosen to suit the user. Due to this, even after long hours of sitting, people are not painfully exhausted.
Therefore, you must buy the right furniture pieces for your home office. If you already have a desk and don't want to spend money on another one, perhaps you can purchase additional accessories such as a desk riser. It will enable you to switch between positions, i.e., standing and sitting. Doing so will improve blood circulation in your body and keep your muscles from overstraining.
Have a High-Speed Internet Connection
Offices typically have incredibly high-speed internet connections with impressive bandwidths to ensure that employees can work conveniently. However, people don't have remarkably fast connections at home as they don't necessarily need one unless you are a game fanatic who requires a robust internet setup.
Nonetheless, in most cases, homes don’t have as high-paced internet connections as corporate offices. While that may not have been an issue in the past, it now is because most people have to work from home. Therefore, you must have fast internet or else you will face interruptions and delays while working.
If you don’t have it yet, you should get it as soon as possible.
Choose a Quiet Corner
It goes without saying that any form of mental work requires a peaceful environment. If you don’t have peace and quiet when working from home, you will be distracted and not be able to give your 100%.
So, when picking out a spot to set up your home office, be sure to go for a place that’s relatively secluded from the rest of the house, even if it means choosing your wardrobe. Believe it or not, sometimes that’s the best section of someone’s abode for carrying out office tasks.
2. Follow a Routine
One of the most detrimental aspects of WFH is not having a well-defined routine because nobody is watching over you, unlike in an office.
You have to work during specific hours when coming in for work to the office. However, that’s not the case at home. There are no reporting times or restrictions regarding when you start the day. Of course, you may have to log in, but once you do that, you can go back to sleep or even go out. This relaxation of not being monitored all the time can make anyone laid back. For this reason, people become dull and procrastinate until the last minute of the deadline.
If you want to maintain a work-life balance and not be on your laptop past sundown, you should wake up as you did before and stick to your official work hours religiously. Doing so when working remotely can be difficult, but if you have a proper home office, you can make things easier for yourself.
Every morning when you get up, freshen up, have breakfast and begin your work on time so that you finish on time too.
Be Professional About Your Dressing
Many people don’t change out of their pajamas while working from home because who’s watching, right? Unless there is a ZOOM meeting or conference call, most remote employees stay in their nightclothes all day every day, which is disadvantageous for them in many ways.
Firstly, PJs are too comfy for your own good, so when you work in those, you are never really alert. Even when you feel like that's not the case, and you have had enough coffee to be fully charged, you will begin to slump and eventually become dull.
To avoid getting sleepy and wanting to take a break for maybe a nap, change out of your nightshirt and put on a pantsuit or whatever you prefer. As long as it's an outfit you can wear to your office, you can put it on at home too.
3. Be Strict About Social Interactions: Set Ground Rules For the Family
If you want to get any work done, you need to set rules about interacting with people in the house. That is, let your family know that if they want anything, they must wait until you step out of your home office boundaries. Doing so will allow you to tick off your to-do tasks faster and much more efficiently.
You must be thinking that telling your loved ones not to talk to you can seem too rude, but you must do so for not just your benefit but for theirs as well. IF you are able to complete your work on time, you will have more time to spend with them. On top of that, you will not be grumpy as you wouldn't have spent endless hours working.
Additionally, it is worth mentioning that you don’t have to be too mean or rude when explaining to your family that you are not to be disturbed during work hours. You can tell them politely that they must not bother you unless you come out yourself, which you will when it's lunchtime. During that hour, you can have a meal with your family and have a break from working nonstop since morning.
In simple terms, being disciplined about doing your office work is critical if you want to achieve success when working from home.
4. Don’t Multitask
Some people might say that having the skill to multitask is commendable and can be really helpful. While that's true to some extent, that's certainly not the entire truth. Multitasking is good, but you cannot deny that it impacts the quality of work, and understandably so!
Naturally, when you are not focused on one task at a time, your mind will be all over the place. Therefore, concentrate on one thing only. This means no eating food while preparing a report or going over accounts- it’s just an example to give you an idea about what you should not do.
5. Communicate With Your Office People
Constant communication is key when it comes to performing your best at work, especially in the case of WFH.
At the office, you have the freedom to walk up to whomever you need to talk to regarding a project, even at the last second before the deadline, and fix things. However, you cannot do that at home, which is why you must keep your communication open with office colleagues. Make sure that you all are discussing everything along the way and that everyone is in the loop regarding the progress of the assignment at hand.
Ending Note
While WFH can seem tremendously taxing, especially when compared to working from the office, it can be done diligently with a little bit of effort and discipline. Stick to the tips mentioned in this article to do your best as a remote corporate employee.
